1988 Golden Globes "trainwreck" broadcast

[DRW50]

I thought some of you might enjoy this.

 

 

 

A list of the errors:

 

In 1988, WPWR-TV Channel 50 had the honor of airing the Golden Globe Awards telecast for the first time. It did not go well.

This was the 45th Annual, hosted that year by Dyan Cannon and Patrick Duffy - and it was a trainwreck on both sides of the transmission. 

This video contains the complete telecast, but documented in this description are a few of the highlights of the screw-ups and snafus, after the station ID with artwork by viewer Gloria Robinson heralding its first anniversary on Channel 50 and promo for upcoming 50th Anniversary Special for Sunday from 10:00am to 11:30pm (voiceover by ?? and ??):

- Eight seconds of black followed by 32 seconds of station ID slide, before joining Awards opening "already in progress," with picture noise, occasional picture freezing, and fuzziness plaguing most of the transmission; notice voiceover (by John Harlan) misidentifies Jerry Orbach as "Richard Orbach" and only announces Leonard Nimoy's surname (during the end credits, they misspell the 1970 Clint Eastwood film "Two Mules for Sister Sara" with an "h" at the end of the title character's first name, on the credit roll)

- As Hollywood Foreign Press Association president Mark Marzouk speaks, local voiceover (by ??) gives "technical difficulties" announcement

- During award nominee readings for Best Supporting Actor or Actress in TV series, miniseries or made-for-TV movies, a sudden interruption for promos for various TV shows and movies on TV 50, followed by more black and another shot of the station ID slide, which in turn is followed by - more promos! and the ID slide - and even more promos and the ID slide once more (with technical difficulties voiceover), followed by - more promos! - and more black and ID slide, before rejoining the program as it goes to their sponsor billboard (voiceover by John Harlan) and national commercials, followed by local commercials and promos

- In the next segment, the picture goes B&W between a shot of Rue McClanahan of The Golden Girls and Tracey Ullman going up the stage to accept her award

- Everything is then more or less even keel until a super-long set of station promos which lead to the next set of award presentations being joined "already in progress"

- In the middle of Steven Bochco accepting for L.A. Law, we cut to a short clip of a news report from KTLA Channel 5's [Los Angeles] Warren Wilson, before more black, station ID slide, and even more promos

- We next see two music videos used for time filler material ("What Have I Done To Deserve This" by the Pet Shop Boys with Dusty Springfield, and "Keep Your Eye On Me" by Herb Alpert), while the voiceover gives the usual "technical difficulties" explanation in-between, followed by yet more promos, before going back to the program as Sammy Davis, Jr. is on

- After the last commercial break, they cut to the program "already in progress" (that's an understatement) as Mickey Rooney arrives at the podium; and miraculously the rest of the show goes to completion without incident

This aired on local Chicago TV on Saturday, January 23rd 1988.